Syrian Islamic Front

The Syrian Islamic Front (Arabic: الجبهة الإسلامية السورية‎ al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyya as-Sūriyyah; abbreviated SIF) was a Salafist umbrella organisation of Islamist rebel groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria during the Syrian Civil War.[3] Its largest group was the Salafist Ahrar ash-Sham, which reportedly "led" and "dominated" the Front.[4] In November 2013, the Syrian Islamic Front was dissolved, as the organization was replaced by the Islamic Front.[5]

Not to be confused with Islamic Front (Syria) or Syrian Islamic Liberation Front.

Syrian Islamic Front
الجبهة الإسلامية السورية
Al-Jabha Al-Islamiyya Al-Suriyya
LeadersHassan Aboud † (Ahrar ash-Sham)
Dates of operationDecember 2012 – November 2013
Active regionsSyria
IdeologySunni Islamism
Salafism
Size25,000 (Dec. 2012, own claim)[1] – 13,000[2] (May 2013)
Alliesal Nusra Front
Free Syrian Army
OpponentsSyrian Armed Forces

Background

The group was founded by eleven Islamist rebel groups on 21 December 2012, including: Ahrar ash-Sham, Al-Haqq Brigade in Homs, the Al-Fajr Islamic Movement in Aleppo, Ansar al-Sham in Latakia, Jaysh Al-Tawhid in Deir ez-Zor and the Hamza ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib Brigade in Damascus.[6][7][8] In January 2013 several of the member organisations announced that they were uniting with Ahrar ash-Sham into a broader group called Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham).[9] In April 2013, the Haqq Battalions Gathering of Hama Governorate became the first new member to join the Front since its founding,[10] in August 2013 this group was merged with several other Salafist rebel groups in Hama to form a new SIF member unit called Liwa Mujahidi al-Sham. The SIF did not include the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, which had been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States.[11] On 9 August, SOHR reported that Hassan Aboud, the head of Ahrar ash-Sham, an ultraconservative Syrian rebel group, was killed in the northwestern town of Ram Hamdan in the Syrian of Idlib Governorate.[12]

Operations

The SIF had reportedly "established a presence across wide swathes of Syrian territory, notably in the north."[4] Apart from its military operations in the Syrian Civil War, the SIF, and particularly Ahrar ash-Sham, diverted considerable resources into humanitarian and other social activities in areas of Syria that they had influence. This included the provision of Islamic education to children, and the distribution of food, water, and fuel. These humanitarian activities were partially subsidized by the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and Qatar charity.[13] The SIF’s leader, Hassan Aboud, revealed himself and his real name for the first time in an 8 June 2013 interview with Al Jazeera. In the interview, Aboud claimed that the SIF ran training camps across Syria for recruits to receive military and religious instruction, as well as additional camps to train promising recruits to become commanders. Aboud also claimed that they had received dozens of requests from other rebel groups to join the SIF.[13]

Ideology, positions

The front's founding statement described its ideology as based on a Salafi understanding of Islam and declared its aims as toppling the Assad government and establishing an Islamic state, governed by religious Muslim law, for the benefit of all Syrians.[8] The group received funding and support from other conservative Salafis in the Persian Gulf,[1] prominent donors included the Kuwaiti preacher Hajjaj al-Ajami, Saudi-based Syrian preacher Adnan al-Aroor, and Kuwaiti politician Hakim al-Mutayri.[13] The Front was "considered less extreme" than the radical Syrian groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra that had been "designated as terrorist organizations" by the United States, and "probably has broader support among ordinary Syrians", according to Washington Post journalist Liz Sly.[4] The Front opposed US intervention against the al-Assad government, and on 5 September 2013, it issued a statement on its Facebook page stating that it rejected "Western military intervention in Syria and consider it a new aggression against Muslims",[14] saying that would only serve American interests and not the cause of those seeking to topple al-Assad.[4]

On 22 November leaders in the SIF took part in the declaration of the new Islamic Front uniting rebel groups that had previously operated under the banners of the SIF and the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front.[15] The SIF then announced on its Google Plus account that it was disbanding and that its component groups would henceforth operate under the umbrella of the Islamic Front.[16]

See also

References
  1. Aron Lund (17 June 2013). "Freedom fighters? Cannibals? The truth about Syria's rebels". The Independent. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  2. "The Structure and Organization of the Syrian Opposition | Center for American Progress". Americanprogress.org. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  3. Aron Lund, Syria's Salafi Insurgents: the Rise of the Syrian Islamic Front Archived 31 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Swedish Institute for International Affairs, 19 March 2013
  4. Sly, Liz (6 September 2013). "Syrian Islamists protest U.S. strikes; Americans exit embassy in Beirut". New York Times. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  5. "Syria crisis: Guide to armed and political opposition". BBC. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  6. "The Syrian Islamic Front: A New Extremist Force". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 4 February 2013.
  7. "11 كتيبة مقاتلة تعلن تشكيل "الجبهة الإسلامية السورية" لإسقاط الأسد وبناء "مجتمع إسلامي حضاري"". Al-Hayat. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  8. "Islamic Forces in Syria Announce Establishment of Joint Front Aimed at Toppling Assad, Founding Islamic State; Syrian Website Urges Them To Incorporate All Islamic Forces in Country". Memri. 26 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  9. Bar, Herve (13 February 2013). "Ahrar al-Sham jihadists emerge from shadows in north Syria". AFP. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  10. Lund, Aron (3 May 2013). "New Addition to the Syrian Islamic Front". Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  11. "World awaits Assad's head, but Syrian president is hell-bent on war of attrition". Haaretz. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  12. News, ABC. "International News: Latest Headlines, Video and Photographs from Around the World – People, Places, Crisis, Conflict, Culture, Change, Analysis and Trends". Archived from the original on 16 September 2014.
  13. "The crowning of the Syrian Islamic Front". Foreign Policy. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  14. "statement by Syrian Islamic Front". 5 September 2013. Facebook. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013.
  15. "Six Islamist factions unite in largest Syria rebel merger". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  16. "الجبهة الإسلامية السورية - Google". Retrieved 18 December 2013.
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